Testament to change

Photo provided to China Daily

He recorded such interactions in his diary over four years. The diary is also what he can quote from when he writes e-mails to his mother, Traudi Olah, to whom he has dedicated his newly published work. She has a great interest in China, he says.

"I wrote letters to my mom by e-mail. My sister would help print out the letters for her and sometimes read them to her. And she usually asked some further interesting questions in response," he says.

What largely encourages him is that students are also changing along the way.

"I asked the students the same question again about their driver's license last month," he says, "Now, 20 percent of students have a driver's license, which is extraordinary."

Over the past four years, Olah has used news topics from the media to encourage class discussions.

"They seldom had the habit of reading any news in English at that time," he recalls.

"It is such a delight to see that many of them are getting information in English through the media and Internet now."

Olah had never considered publishing the diaries until earlier this year when he met Shan Honghong, president of CUP. Shan learned about Olah's diaries and thought that their publication would be a good gift to have for the university's 60th birthday.

Now, the book has been published in both English and Chinese.

"I hope more of my students will like the book as they can now read it in Chinese," Olah says.